


Carry Me Home

by redstaronmyshoulder (CaptainAmelia22)



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Cuddling & Snuggling, Discussions on Force Sensitivity, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Finn is a Jedi, Finn is a Jedi Master, Force Ghosts, Jedi Code, Jessika Pava is dead, Kid Fic, Lost friends, M/M, PTSD, Poe and Finn are fathers, Post First Order Fall, Post Galactic War, Rey is a Jedi Master, Survivor Guilt, but she's going to help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 23:10:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7820875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainAmelia22/pseuds/redstaronmyshoulder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was a fic for the Stormpilot Big Bang but that was cancelled due to a lack of participation. So I'm free to post this now. </p><p>Five years after the Fall of the First Order. Finn and Poe are living on Yavin-4, raising their adopted daughter. Finn is a Jedi and Poe is dealing with the loss of his best friend, Jessika Pava, by doing his damndest to raise her daughter the right way. But one day he and Finn notice something about their little girl. </p><p>And Poe realizes that the Force isn't done with them just yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carry Me Home

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I love graying, middle-aged Poe Dameron and Finn so freaking much. I could write about them for years. Nothing makes me happier.
> 
> And Jedi!Finn makes me squeal like a little girl. 
> 
> This story has a potential for a sequel. But I'm currently finishing another fic and finishing building a Phasma costume so gods only know when that could happen. 
> 
> I hope you guys like this! 
> 
> -M

_ Five years after the Fall of the First Order _

_ Yavin 4 _

 

The little girl has her mother’s eyes.

“Daddy, fly me!” she shrieks, giggling when she’s tossed into the air before falling to be caught in her father’s strong hands. “Again, again!” she crows, black curls glistening in the bright sunlight. “Again, Daddy!”

Poe Dameron smiles up at her and obligingly tosses her once more and catching her as she falls spread-eagled into his arms. “Kriff, you’re getting big, kid,” he grunts when she settles back into his arms. “Okay, Deidra, it’s time to get ready for dinner. Your Papa is going to be back from the academy soon and he won’t be happy to see how dirty your face and hands are. What’d you do, Dee? Get in a fight with a choku today, with the Wexley twins?” 

She giggles and tries to wiggle free of his arms. “No!” she shrieks, giggles turning to full-belly laughs now as he proceeds to tickle her and sling her upside down over his back. “No, Daddy no! I don’t wanna wash my hands!” 

Poe snorts and bounces her, smiling at the sound of her laughter; she pulls herself upright, using his graying black hair as an anchor and he winces. “Stop it monster, that hurts,” he chides, no real bite in his voice. She crows happily, perched on his shoulder now and wraps her dirty fingers around his face covering his eyes. 

“I can see Papa!” she shrieks and he laughs. 

“No you can’t, you little liar,” he says, picking his way carefully over the yard towards their home, peeking through her fingers just enough to make sure his bare feet are placed solidly on the paving stone steps leading from the garden towards the house. “You’re not faced the right way and there’s a jungle between you and the hangar.”

She pats her hand sharply against his skull and snorts, the sound scarily similar to one she’s heard him make on more than one occasion. “I’m tall though Daddy, I can see over the trees. I can see Papa. He’s heading our way. I can hear him too. He says that I don’t need to wash my face.”

Poe rolls his eyes and reaches up to disentangle her entirely from his shoulder, just in time to duck through the front door. “Oh really, youngling?” he says, cradling her in his arms and bending down to cover her face in kisses and blow a raspberry on her belly, smirking when she shrieks and chokes on her giggling. “What’s your Papa wearing, if you’re so omnipotent?” 

“What’s that?” she breathes, tiny fingers reaching up to stroke through his grey streaked beard. 

“It means all knowing, kiddo,” he says, kicking the front door closed and pausing a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting of their home. 

“Like Grampa Luke and Aunt Rey?” she asks, her voice soft now that he has her wrapped tight in his arms, cradled tight against his chest. 

“Yeah, kind of like Grampa Luke and Rey,” he murmurs. He frowns and bounces her for a moment, keeping an eye on the floor as he makes his way through the cool living quarters towards the refresher; her toys cover every flat surface of the space and he makes a mental note of pre-bedtime clean-up. Something he knows will undoubtedly turn into a new galactic war. 

“What’cha thinkin’ about?” she asks, tugging at his beard and he winces. 

“Thinking about how much cleaning up you have to do, you little terror,” he grumbles, wincing when his toe connects with the sharp edge of the battered toy x-wing set directly in their path to the refresher. “Kriff, Dee, do you  _ have _ to leave all of your toys everywhere?”

She huffs and sticks her bottom lip out in her best attempt at a pout-something she ultimately fails at because she can’t stop smiling. “Not  _ my  _ fault Daddy,” she says. “Ava and Dian’Di left some of them out as well!”

He bites back his own smile. “Oh yeah? So you’re telling me Ava and Dian’Di Wexley knew  _ exactly _ where all of your toys were and brought them out for your playdate? Every single one, including the wooden lightsaber your Grampa gave you and the star-destroyer your Papa found for you at the market last month? The two toys you won’t even let us play with?”

Deidra can’t fight the grin any longer and she reaches up to tug his face in for a sloppy kiss. “Yeah,” she says, blue eyes sparkling when he wrinkles his nose and makes exaggerated “icky” faces. “Yeah, they got the toys out. Not me. So I don’t have to clean it up, right?”

A gentle voice chuckles at their backs, saying, “They’re your toys, Deidra, you’re going to have to clean them up.” 

She shrieks and starts to throw herself from Poe’s arms, who grunts and catches her about the hips before lowering her to relative safety. 

“Papa!” she cries, launching herself across the room to throw herself into the cloaked and hooded figure standing in the doorway. Poe smiles and folds his arms across his chest, leaning against the wall while he watches their daughter get swept into her other father’s arms. “Papa I missed you!” she chatters, pushing Finn’s hood back and pulling his face close to hers so she can cover him in kisses. “You were gone for so long! Did you have a good time? Are the new Jedi getting better? Did you fight with Aunt Rey again? Was Grampa there? Did you get a new lightsaber since your other one broke? Is it green? Or did you get a cool purple one this time? Can I see it? Did you bring me any presents back this time, Papa?”

Her bright voice fills the space, wraps their little family in warmth and Finn’s eyes settle on Poe. “Hey,” he says, smiling as he tucks their daughter onto his hip and drops his pack from his shoulders. “Sorry I’m late. Got caught up in some things with Luke and Rey, before leaving the temple.” 

Poe shrugs and pushes off the wall to make his way across the living room floor and wrap his arms around Finn’s waist. “Figured as much. And you’re not as late as you have been in the past. So I think I’ll forgive you. This time.” 

Finn’s eyes crinkle at the corners and his smile grows as he leans around Deidra to kiss Poe. 

“I missed you, fly-boy,” he murmurs, his free hand rising to cup Poe’s cheek gently. “It’s been too long.” 

Poe turns his head enough to press a light kiss to Finn’s wrist. “It’s just been a month, love,” he says. “You’ve been gone for longer than that, in the past.”

The two of them are lost, lost in each other’s eyes for a moment, in the warmth of their bodies once more pressed together and it takes everything Poe has not to push him roughly up against the wall and kiss him. To strip those damn Jedi robes from Finn’s body and trail his lips all over his scars. 

It takes every bit of his weakened control.

And then Deidra hiccups in Finn’s arms. 

“Sorry,” she says, clapping her hands over her mouth as another hiccup wracks her tiny body. 

Both men laugh, the spell broken and Poe steps away, pulling their daughter from Finn’s arms and placing her firmly on the floor. 

“C’mon, monster. Let’s get you washed up and into the kitchen. Papa’s probably starving.” She groans, protesting but Finn frowns. 

“No arguing with Daddy, Dee,” he says bending to gaze seriously into her eyes. “Wash your hands and face. The cleaner you are, the better. Otherwise you won’t see the present I brought back for you.”

She gasps, eyes flying wide and Poe rolls his eyes, catching her by the top of the head and spinning her away from Finn to push her towards the refresher. 

“Could have kept that as a surprise, babe. Now we’re never going to get her to focus,” he says, unable to stop from smiling and Finn grins back. 

“Sorry,” he mutters, shrugging out of his robes. “Couldn’t keep it to myself.” 

Poe snorts. “Okay, kid. Okay. Let’s get you cleaned up. You’re killing me with these toys. Into the refresher, I want that water as warm as you can get it.”

Finn shakes his head, wincing absently at the sound of water splashing on the tile fresher floor and can’t help but laugh when Poe curses. 

“Language!” he shouts towards the door, making Deidra giggle and he steps into the kitchen. The light yellow walls greet him, homy and faded and warm. Their scarred kitchen table is littered with several of Dee’s still drying craft projects and some of her school work. He sifts through the mess, his eyes caught by a drawing and he stills, eyes narrowing at the sight of what is obviously Dee standing hand in hand with a slender woman, her hair caught in a braid that drapes her shoulder. The orange jumpsuit is familiar. One he knows better than the black and grey robes he wears now. There’s one hanging in their wardrobe, faded and singed on one leg, the patches peeling from too many years and too much time spent in a cockpit. 

His daughter’s artistic talents might not be the most exceptional but he knows this woman.

Knows what this drawing means for his little girl, even if she probably doesn’t.    
“Deidra? Baby, who is this?” he asks when she skids into the kitchen, stocking feet sliding on the cool kitchen tile. She’s giggling, keeping an eye on Poe who stalks her, his hands raised before his face in an imitation of claws; he growls and she shrieks, tiny fists raised before her face.

“Stop right there, you mean old howler!” she shouts, brows lowered in her best scary serious expression. “I’m the best pilot in the entire galaxy and I’ll kick your butt!”

Poe’s lips waver, his own serious expression almost failing but Finn catches her and turns her slowly so she faces him. 

Her eyes go wide when he holds the drawing up and she freezes, for once in her short life, speechless.

“Baby,” Finn says, his voice quiet. Careful. He sees Poe straighten in the corner of his eye, his own expression shocked when he sees the drawing. “Who is this woman you drew?” 

“No one,” she mumbles, reaching for the picture but Finn holds it out of her reach. 

“Deidra, tell me the truth,” he says, eyes flashing, the Force drawing tight around them, and Poe tenses. But he leaves this to Finn. Who’s watching Deidra very carefully. “Who is the woman in your drawing?”

Dee’s light blue eyes rise to meet his and his heart breaks at the fear and uncertainty he sees in her young face. 

He can see how lost she feels, looking at the drawing, looking at her fathers. 

“Who is she Dee?” Poe asks, his voice gentle and he’s kneeling beside her now, hand rising to rub soothing patterns across her back. 

Deidra swallows heavily, eyes welling with tears and she sniffs, reaching to stroke the sloppily depicted orange jumpsuit. 

Both men hold their breath, eyes locked on her face and after a long moment she whispers, “I don’t know, Papa. Sometimes...sometimes I see her at night.” 

Poe’s eyes close, his face twisting in a pained expression but Finn just smiles at her and strokes her curls back from her face. 

“Have you seen her in your dreams, sweetheart?” he asks, thumb stroking her tears away from her flushed cheeks. “Do you see her at night when you go to bed?”

She hesitates again, brow wrinkling in a frown and nods. “Sometimes she sits beside my bed and sings to me,” she says. “It’s a strange song-one you and Daddy have never sung before.”

Finn glances at Poe, who’s white, his eyes wide in absolute shock and horror now.    
“Can you sing it for me?” he asks. 

She glances from the picture to Finn and back and finally nods, clearing her throat. 

“ _Way down in the river,”_ she sings, young voice piping around them, filling the warm kitchen with a bright air of love. Finn’s skin bumps and the hair on the back of his neck stands on end; the Force is strong with her in that moment. Weaving through her words. Through her voice. He shivers and runs one of her curls through his fingers, wondering at the heightened sensitivity he feels in the space. She continues, undaunted, “ _in the grasses I play/ mama will watch me/ all the sunny day/ she washes me/washes me clean and she loves me/she loves me”_

Poe stands, before she can finish the song, rushing from the kitchen and Finn winces when the front door slams closed behind him.

“That was a beautiful song, sweetheart,” he says, pulling Dee into his arms and pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “Thank you for sharing it with me. The woman who sings it for you at night must love you very much.”

She sniffles, tangling her fingers in his tunic and buries her face in his shoulder. “I made Daddy mad,” she whispers and he sighs silently, eyes closing as he pulls her into his arms and takes a seat at the table. 

“You didn’t make Daddy mad,” he says, the memory of Poe’s stricken face washing over him for a moment and he reaches through the Force to find where his partner has gone.  _ I’m sorry Poe, _ he says, when he finds him, in the hangar bay surrounded by x-wing and astromech parts. Deidra sniffles again, wiping her nose on his shoulder and he rolls his eyes, unable to stop from smiling. “Listen Dee,” he says, pulling her back a bit so he can see her tear streaked face. “You need to tell us the next time the woman in orange comes to you, okay? You need to tell us right away. It’s very important.”

She nods solemnly, light blue eyes drifting from his to the drawing he’s set aside for the moment.

“Promise me, baby,” Finn says, catching her chin in his hand and pulling her gaze back to his. “I need you to promise me.”

She hesitates, light eyes nervous but she nods again. 

“I promise Papa,” she whispers finally and Finn breathes a sigh of relief. 

“Thank you,” he says, rising and setting her back into the chair. “Okay, let’s get some dinner on the table. It’s getting close to yours and Daddy’s bedtime.” 

She giggles. “Daddy fell asleep in the middle of dressing up with me and Ava and Dian’Di last night. We put his hair in pigtails and wrapped a fancy scarf around his neck and put a necklace on him. It was really funny and he was snoring so, so loud!”

He cocks an eyebrow at that and chuckles, “Oh yeah? I bet that was hilarious.”

She nods seriously. “When he woke up and saw himself he just sighed and said it wasn’t as bad as some of the outfits he’d had to wear in his drag days.” She frowns. “I don’t really get that, though.”

Finn almost chokes on the sip of beer he’s taken and glances at the little girl helping herself to the sweet rolls and parish he’s set out for their dinner. He doesn’t miss her drawing, tucked tightly in her lap, folded so he can’t see the woman in the orange jumpsuit anymore. For a brief moment he considers contacting Luke Skywalker, but then she’s launching into another very involved and detailed story about some of the other antics she and the Wexley twins have been up to in his absence and his stomach is reminding him it’s been twelve hours since he last ate.

He sits beside her and smiles, watching her eat for a moment before turning to his own plate.

Poe doesn’t come back, even by Deidra’s bedtime. 

They make a valiant effort at getting her toys cleaned up but by 20:00 she’s yawning and her eyes are drooping so Finn gives up the fight and helps her wash her face and brush her teeth. He glances periodically out the window towards the hangar, which he can barely see; the yellow light spilling from its windows relieves him but he can’t help but feel lost without Poe at his side. 

Without Poe smiling and touching him when Dee isn’t looking, his body warm and solid at Finn’s back. 

_ Come back to us, Poe, _ he whispers, eyes locked on the hangar for a moment but then Dee is calling his attention back to the present and he’s smiling, catching her about the waist and spinning her, her shrieks and giggles warming him as nothing else ever could. 

“Tell Daddy I’m sorry,” she whispers when Finn tucks her in and leans down to kiss her forehead. She blinks sleepily up at him and he frowns. 

“Sorry for what, baby?” he says, stroking his fingers gently over her cheek. 

“For not telling you about the woman in orange coming to me,” she whispers. “I really made him mad, didn’t I? He hasn’t come in to kiss me goodnight yet. I’m sorry.” 

Finn kisses her forehead and strokes her nose. “You didn’t make Daddy mad, baby,” he says. “You just scared him. And me.”

Her eyes fly wide at that and her mouth pops open in shock. “I  _ scared _ you?!” she gasps. “You and Daddy don’t get scared though! You’re a Jedi and Daddy is a pilot! You  _ can’t _ get scared.”

Finn smiles sadly at that and stands. “Daddy and I do get scared, Dee. You scare the kriff out of both of us,” he says, reaching for the raggedy doll Rey had given her when she was born. “It’s what children do to parents. But that’s what you’re  _ supposed _ to do, Deidra.” 

“Oh,” she says, taking the doll from him and smoothing its frizzy yarn hair before tucking it into her pillow beside her. “So Daddy is going to be okay then?”

Finn nods. “Yes baby, he’s going to be fine. I just have to go kick his ass into gear.”

She giggles at the swear and he winks before blowing her a kiss and clicking the light off.

“‘Night Deidra,” he murmurs, closing the door slowly, making sure to leave it gapped so some of the house’s light can slip into her room.

“‘Night Papa,” she says, her voice already muddy with sleep. “Love you.” 

His heart squeezes in his chest, his eyes closing with the light brush of warmth her words cause to wash over him and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end once more. Reminding him of earlier in the kitchen.

And the drawing of the woman in the orange jumpsuit, her braid tucked over her shoulder.

“Jess?” he whispers, standing in the middle of the toy strewn living room. “Are you there? Are you watching over her?”

Soft laughter washes through the space and the Force sings along the edges of his awareness, wild and warm and bright with an unseen entity’s love. 

The front door closes with a soft click behind him and he barely pays any attention to the garden as he walks slowly through the shadows towards the hangar, lost in thought. 

**

The astromech parts are organized by type, color and size. 

Each little box and tub is marked in his careful handwriting, telling him just what it is tucked within. 

It’s organized chaos and it is a relief to just sit at his bench and work for a few hours, his fingers greasy and singed from the soldering iron. A round frame sits beside him, in a place of honor, the would-be droid’s head wrapped in shop towels in another box tucked out of the way high up on the shelves over the bench. Panels cover most of its sides, silver metal instead of the old white and orange. 

It doesn’t look like much, but it’s his project and he loves it almost as much as the black and orange T-85 X-Wing covered in tarps in the far back corner of the hangar. 

“Almost there, buddy,” he mutters to himself, his nose wrinkling when the solder hisses and a small trickle of smoke brushes his nose. The motherboard he’s wiring is extensive and complicated but he doesn’t let it phase him. 

He’s done more extensive construction on his ship in the vacuum of space. 

And besides, this is just a hobby…

A way to pass the time.

“He’s looking good.” 

Finn’s quiet voice washes over him, his skin bumping in response and Poe can’t help but smile. 

“He’s getting there,” he mutters, setting the soldering iron aside and raising the tiny disc up so he can study the connections. “Starting to look a bit more like himself, isn’t he?”

Finn smiles and rests his hand on the dome’s side, callused fingers rasping over the grey metal for a moment. 

“I’ve missed BB-8,” he says, after a moment. “It’s not quite the same without him, is it?”

“Yeah, that’s for sure.” Poe sighs and sets the motherboard aside, pushing his goggles up his face and scrubs at his eyes for a moment. Finn leans against the bench, arms folded across his chest and Poe’s smile turns wistful at the sight of his husband dressed in one of his old shirts and a raggedy pair of pants that are just a hair too big for him. 

The sight of Finn in clothes other than the Jedi robes always awakens something nostalgic in him. Reminds him of the old days, when Finn was barely recovered on D’Qar, helping them come up with a plan to turn the Stormtroopers against their commanders. Reminds him of fumbling hands in a dark and tiny bunk. Uncertain kisses and shaky bodies.

Of being younger and horny and able to contort themselves in any space available, no matter how dirty or cramped, bodies heated through too many layers of clothes. 

There’s gray in his hair and beard now and Finn’s eyes are bracketed by lines, his own hair starting to silver at the temples. They both move a bit slower these days, their knees popping if they’ve sat for too long, their fingers stiff in the cold mornings Yavin sometimes has.

But Finn’s here, standing in his workshop.

And their daughter is asleep in their house.

They’re alive, five years after the First Order’s fall. Ten years after they first saw each other, deep in the bowels of one of the First Order’s star destroyers. 

They’ve survived the impossible.

And that’s all that matters. 

“C’mere,” he says, reaching out for Finn and tugging him between his legs. “I missed you,” he murmurs when Finn’s chest and hips press against his. He slides his hands beneath Finn’s shirt, running his fingers along the ridged lines of the scar bisecting his back and he smiles when Finn’s eyes flutter closed and a soft sigh slips free of his lips. 

“I missed you too, Dameron,” Finn says, ducking down for a kiss and Poe groans, his head tipping up to deepen the caress. Finn’s hands rise to tangle in his hair and Poe’s fingers tighten on his hips, pulling him even closer. “Missed this.”

“Missed you in my bed,” Poe continues, lips trailing down Finn’s neck to mouth at the small section of skin peeking free of his shirt collar. “It’s cold at night, without you to wrap myself around.” 

Finn laughs, his chest vibrating beneath Poe’s hands and he trails his fingers through Poe’s hair, toying idly with the graying curls, smiling when they spring back into shape. “So you just miss me for my body warmth then, flyboy?”

Poe grins. “Among other things,” he says, hands sliding from Finn’s back to his hips and beneath the loose waistband of his pants. Finn’s eyes flutter the moment Poe cups his half-hard cock and the sharp exhalation of breath he lets go is all Poe needs to hear. The zip coming undone is loud in the still and dusty air of the hangar but neither man cares. This is what victory is.

Leisurely strokes and soft kisses. 

Or maybe not so leisurely or so soft. 

“Maker,” Finn gasps when the cooler air brushes his bare legs and Poe’s thumb strokes along the head of his cock. “I missed  _ this _ .” 

Poe laughs and tugs at the hem of Finn’s shirt; taking the cue for what it is, Finn sheds the shirt as well and moves closer between Poe’s legs. 

“You feel good in my hand,” Poe growls, dark eyes heated as his gaze moves slowly from Finn’s face down his broad chest, over the flat plane of his stomach to his engorged cock he so expertly strokes. “I miss feeling you thrust against me, slicking my fingers down with cum. Don’t even need lube, do I?”  

Finn snorts. “Oh, I’m getting dirty talk tonight, old man?” he teases, making a show of grinding himself into Poe’s fist. “Is that my ‘welcome home’ gift?”

Poe grins and moves his free hand from Finn’s hip to squeeze his ass. “Did you think of me when you were at the temple, Jedi Master? Did you think of me when you were lying in your dark bedroom, on your hard bed with no one to spoon? Did you think of me, lying naked and sweaty in Yavin, lonely and pining for my lost lover, and touch yourself?”

Finn’s laughing now, tears streaming from his eyes and he plants his lips against Poe’s for a moment, stopping his words. “Gods, you used to be better at this Poe Dameron. You really  _ are _ getting old, aren’t you?” he says, still laughing and still hard in Poe’s hand; he’s a mess, leaking pearly cum all over Poe’s fist but neither man cares. 

This is a space for messes. 

“Just fuck me already,” Finn growls, eyes heating when Poe’s nails bite at his balls and his fingers trail between his ass cheeks to press lightly at his hole. “I’ve been thinking about this for days now and if you come up with more raunchy pillow talk I’m going to come, right here and then it’ll be time for me to go to bed.” 

Poe’s grin grows. “Becoming a one-pump chump in your dotage, Jedi?” he teases, rising and kicking off his boots and struggling with cum slicked fingers to unzip his pants. “That’s just sad.” 

Finn snorts and rolls his eyes, brushing Poe’s hands aside to make quick work of the zipper and button. “You’re ten years older than me, cradle robber,” he mutters, eyes locked on Poe’s erection, bared to the stark overhead lighting and Yavin’s cooling jungle air.

Poe can’t help but feel proud at the sight of Finn’s tongue darting out to moisten the corner of his lips and he grips the base of his cock, stroking slowly and smirking when Finn groans at the sight of his thickening. Finn’s cock brushes his belly, fully erect and dripping but he doesn’t move to touch himself, he simply steps into Poe’s arms and presses his lips to Poe’s. Their cocks grind together, the friction is so good. So sweet.

So  _ needed. _

“Will this ever get old?” Finn asks, nuzzling his face against Poe’s neck for a moment. “Will I ever  _ not _ be turned on by you?”

Poe laughs softly and cups his ass, squeezing. “Kriff, I hope not,” he mutters, nipping lightly at the pulse jumping in Finn’s throat. “I don’t know what I’d do without you Finn.” 

Finn hums and Poe’s backing them against the bench now, reaching into the drawer tucked beneath the bench surface to pull out a bottle of lube. Finn chuckles at the sight of the clear bottle. 

“You’re prepared for everything out here, aren’t you?” he asks, turning and bending over the bench, his face resting on his folded arms. Poe nudges his thighs apart, nodding silent approval when Finn’s cheeks spread and presses a kiss to his hip.

“Remember the first time we did this out here?” he asks, massaging his hands slowly into Finn’s ass cheeks and rolling the bottle between their skin. “I don’t think either of us want a repeat of  _ that _ disaster.”

Finn snorts, eyes sliding into contented slits, his hips rising into Poe’s touch. “I remember chasing down Deidra who was still in her streaking phase the next day and almost crying when you couldn’t stop laughing. I walked with a limp for two days after we did it out here.” 

“Mmm,” Poe hums, uncapping the lube and slicking it along Finn’s cleft. Finn shudders and moans, quietly, hips rocking gently now and Poe laughs, locking him in place with one firm hand. “Easy baby, easy.”

“C’mon Poe,” Finn groans, fingers clenching on the bench edge. “Running out of time.” 

Poe shakes his head and slicks one finger in the lube coating Finn’s ass, circling the digit slowly along the taut rim of his hole. “Still so damned impatient. Always gotta rush things,” he grumbles, circling and pressing with increasing force against Finn’s rectum. “Do you remember the first time we slept together, love?” he asks, his voice husky with his weakening control. Finn starts to answer but his words die the moment Poe presses his finger firmly past the tight perineum, all the way to his knuckle. “You were barely a week out of medical and weak as a baby,” Poe murmurs, thrusting his finger firmly, his own body drawing tight when Finn moans again and rolls his hips into his hand. “But you were so innocent and Snap kept teasing you and asking questions and finally you came to me, with your own questions.”

Finn moans and Poe’s added another finger and picked up the pace now, brushing his prostate with each stroke. “You were so cocky that night, I should have known I was in for trouble.”

Poe snorts and leans over Finn’s back to bite lightly at the trembling muscles in his shoulder. “I’d never met someone who didn’t know what a handjob was.”

“Or a blowjob,” Finn laughs breathlessly and Maker.

His voice is already fucked. 

Poe adds another finger, stretching Finn wider and wider with each thrust of his hand, the hot contraction of the muscles driving him closer to the edge. 

“You came to me that night, actually knocked on my door, kriff it was damned adorable, you stumbling over your words and begging me to teach you how to kiss. How to fuck,” Poe continues, his fingers slick with lube and his cock throbs, leaking its own mess all over Finn’s ass. 

“I’m ready, I’m ready,” Finn moans, ass straining up against Poe’s groin. “C’mon, Poe, stop making me wait. I’m going to come, right here.” 

“I love it when you beg,” Poe growls, his fingers tight around the base of his cock; Finn tenses for a moment, the head of Poe’s cock pressing against his asshole awakening another set of sensitive nerves but he relaxes with a sigh when Poe fills him, familiar and comforting. 

The sting-barely there to begin with-fades to a heady pulse and the two of them wait for a moment, their bodies syncing in a way borne of too many years spent together.

Of too much knowing. 

Of too much love. 

Poe thrusts slowly and this.

This is what their younger selves would have killed for.

_ Did _ kill for, in all honesty. 

Time. 

Time to spend at their leisure, in their own quiet home.

Together.

“I missed you,” Poe grits, his thrusts picking up pace and their rhythm falling to hell as they bring each other close to the edge. “I missed you so damn much it hurt.” 

“I missed you too,” Finn pants, his hand tight around his cock, riding Poe out and using their rocking bodies to bring himself off. “I missed you more than air.”

Poe’s breath hitches in his chest, his eyes closing and his head falls back on his shoulder as his orgasm rises. “Ah, baby,” he groans, hands tight on Finn’s hips, anchoring him. “Yes, this is good.”

They come together, hot and messy, sweaty bodies pressed together and it  _ is _ good.

This is worth all of the fighting and all of the danger.

The death. 

This.

_ Them. _

“I love you Finn,” Poe murmurs, pressing a light kiss to the base of Finn’s spine, where the old scar tapers off. “So damn much.”

And this.

This is worth killing for, again.

**

“We need to talk about Dee and the drawing, Poe.” 

They move slowly through the living room a while later, Poe munching on the sweet roll Finn handed him the moment they slipped through the front door. Each of them hold a handful of battered and well-loved toys, which they carefully place in the toy box tucked away in the corner under a window. 

Poe stiffens, in the process of reaching for a ragged stuffed tauntaun and straightens. 

“Finn,” he sighs, looking anywhere but the other man, who sits shirtless on the couch. “Don’t-”

“It’s Jessika,” Finn says, his dark eyes sharp. He flicks his fingers, several toys shifting from the floor to tumble haphazardly into the bin across the room. “Jessika is appearing to Dee at night, trying to guide her. Trying to talk to her. You know what that means.” 

Poe grits his teeth and shakes his head, tossing another handful of toys into the bin and wincing at the clatter they make. “Jess wasn’t a Jedi,” he mutters “It’s not her. Dee is just imagining things-she saw a picture of Jess or heard Rey talking about her the last time she was here and her imagination ran with it. Jess is  _ not _ appearing to our daughter and our  _ daughter _ is not a sensitive.” 

Finn’s eyes are gentle when he rises and circles his arms around Poe’s waist. “And why not?” he asks, his voice soft. “Jess was one of the Resistance’s best pilots. She was more daring than you and she never once got shot down. Never once was even hit, not until that last day at least. Are you telling me she was able to outwit some of the First Order’s best pilots on sheer guts for ten or more years straight? That  _ you _ were able to outwit them, much the same? Unlikely, babe. Very unlikely.” 

Poe’s lips waver, tears welling in his eyes and he shakes his head again. “ _ I’m _ not sensitive either, Finn,” he says, his voice agonized. 

Finn cups his cheek and rests his forehead against Poe’s. “You and I both know that’s not true, babe. Remember what the General would always say about you and your squad? About how the Force moved within all of you and in different times, you’d be in a temple, training with the Masters? Remember that? You were the only squadron in the entire Resistance that saw the war through, nearly intact. You were the longest survivors in any branch of Leia’s army. You can’t tell me there wasn’t a reason for that. It was more than luck that kept you and your pilots alive.” 

Poe is quiet, his eyes locked on the battered x-wing toy he holds in his hands; his heart hammers in his chest and for a moment all he can hear is Jessika Pava laughing and cheering in his ear, her comm crackling with static and feedback. 

_ We got them on the run again, Commander!  _

_ Let me take ‘em! I can beat ‘em, Dameron! _

Jessika’s soft voice feeding through to him on a private line, her wings dipping in the corner of his eyes as she rolled her ship expertly, carefree as always.

Neither of them had seen the TIE Fighter until it was too late.

Far too late. 

_ Poe, Poe I gotta tell you something when we get back to base. There’s someone I want you to meet... _

“I can’t lose Dee,” he whispers, tears starting to fall down his cheeks to tangle in his beard. “I can’t lose Jess  _ and _ her baby. I just...I  _ can’t _ Finn.” 

Finn cups his face gently between his palms and presses a light kiss to his forehead. “You won’t lose Deidra, Poe,” he whispers, his own tears starting to fall. “I  _ swear _ to you, you’ll never lose her. She’s your daughter.  _ My _ daughter. But she’s also Jessika’s. And if Jess is coming to her, trying to lead her into the Force...We need to do something. As parents and her guardians. We  _ have _ to help her onto her path.” His thumbs stroke Poe’s cheeks and Poe takes a shuddering breath, his hands rising to rest on Finn’s hips, pulling him close. “You’ll never lose Dee, love,” Finn whispers, hand moving to cup the back of Poe’s skull and trail through is hair. “I swear to you...I won’t let that happen.”

“I’m scared,” Poe whispers brokenly, his arms tight around Finn’s hips, desperate for an anchor. “I’m so damn scared I’d lose her and you.” 

Finn pulls back at that, eyes flying wide in shock. 

“What?!” 

His shocked voice cracks through the dimly lit room and Poe sighs, running a weary hand over his face and through his hair. “You leave,” he says, his voice rough and pained. “You leave for weeks or months at a time. And I understand, Finn. I understand, you’re a Jedi and you’re helping Rey and Luke find and train any others in the galaxy. It’s a noble cause and I respect that. But you leave and I’m here on Yavin, raising our daughter. Trying to do a damn good job of it too, because I owe her. And I owe my dead best friend that. I owe Jess to keep Deidra safe. But it’s hard. It’s hard to know that one day she could be taken from me. Like you are taken from me for so many days. I can’t-I can’t let her go yet.” 

Finn stares at him for a moment, trying to process his husband’s words and his pain. The sadness rolling off of Poe-the fear-is almost overwhelming. Is acrid tasting on the back of his tongue and he realizes that Poe has kept this hidden from him for far too long. 

Has shielded himself from Finn. 

His lips quirk in a tiny smile and he pulls Poe in for a soft kiss. “And you say you’re not sensitive,” he mutters, sighing when he strokes his thumb over Poe’s slightly swollen lips. “You’re a fool, Poe Dameron.” 

Poe’s smile is shaky, fleeting. “Yeah, well, I’m not exactly an all-knowing Jedi, sweetheart. I can’t see the right answer all of the time.” 

Finn sighs and leans in to kiss some of Poe’s tears away. “I would never take Dee from you. And I will  _ never _ leave you Poe. I swear on my lightsaber, that I will never abandon you. We’ve been through too much to quit now. Dee will never be taken from us, like the old days. Like I was taken from my family. Luke does things differently now-he learned that lesson the hard way. And besides, I will protect her- _ you _ will protect her. I would never let anyone hurt her or steal her from us. You’re my family and I will not let anything happen to either of you. I swear to you, on the Force. On my Kyber. I love you Poe. I love her.” 

They’re quiet, fingers gently stroking and bodies warm where they are pressed together and they listen to their hearts beating steadily in time together. The fear has lessened. The sadness. The  _ pain. _ But Finn knows it’s still there, lurking just beneath the surface. 

Festering. 

So much pain.   
“You should have told me,” he whispers after that long, introspective, moment. “You should have  _ told  _ me you were afraid of losing me or even both of us. And that you were lonely. Why didn’t you?” 

Poe’s hands lift and fall and he sighs. “How could I say anything?” he says, that shaky smile still on his lips; the feeble expression doesn’t begin to touch his eyes and it breaks Finn’s heart. “You deserve this Finn. Deserve to become the Jedi Master you were always meant to be. That was taken from you by the First Order. I couldn’t do the same.” 

Finn just stares at him. “But you don’t deserve to be hurt either, Poe,” he says. “I owe you too much to hurt you like this. I owe you my  _ life _ , a million times over. I owe you my  _ love _ .” 

Poe sways, slightly taken-aback by the intensity in Finn’s voice. “I-” he starts but a soft sniffle directly behind them cuts his words off and both men jump.

“I saw her, Papa,” Deidra says, eyes wide and teary. Her hair is rumpled and the doll she holds is drool stained. Poe and Finn pull apart and Poe scoops her up, placing a gentle kiss in her messy hair. “I saw the lady in orange,” she whispers before bursting into tears. 

“Oh, baby,” Finn sighs, pulling them both into his arms and holding them as tight as he can. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispers, to both of them, his heart breaking when he feels Poe’s agony and Dee’s fear. “I swear to you both, it’s going to be okay.” 

**

“Daddy and I are going to tell you a story, Dee.” 

She yawns and curls tightly against Poe’s chest, tangling her fingers in his shirt hem. “What kind of story, Papa?” she asks, eyes blinking sleepily up at him. 

“A story about heroes and foolish pilots who always got into too much trouble for their own good,” Finn smiles and glances at Poe. The three of them are curled up together in his and Poe’s bed, Deidra between them, his face inches from Poe’s on the pillow. He strokes his fingers through his husband’s graying hair gently before leaning down to kiss her forehead. 

“Stay awake for the story, baby,” he says, chuckling when she scowls at him and huffs. “It’s really important.” 

“Okay, Papa,” she says. “I won’t sleep.” 

Poe laughs and folds his arm beneath his head, closing his eyes as he listens to Finn and Dee. “Ten credits says she starts snoring in a few minutes, babe,” he murmurs. 

Finn ignores him.

“I’m going to tell you a story about someone very important, sweetheart,” Finn says, his voice soothing. It’s moments like this that makes Poe remember the fact that he has a Jedi Master in his bed. 

In his life. 

A fucking  _ Jedi _ .

He loves listening to Finn.

“In the early days of the Resistance, there was a group of hotshot pilots who joined up after defecting from the New Republic.” 

Poe’s lips curl. “Really? You’re starting from the  _ very _ beginning, love?” mutters and snorts when Finn reaches over Dee and smacks him firmly on the faded tattoo on his bicep. 

“Shhh,” Dee shushes him and he wrinkles his nose at her before subsiding. “Were they the best pilots in the Republic, Papa?” she asks, turning back to Finn eagerly. 

Finn nods seriously. “Yes, the very best Dee. And they were led by their stubborn, headstrong,  _ foolish _ young Commander, Poe Dameron.” 

She cheers, bouncing the bed and Poe rolls his eyes. “Settle down, kiddo,” he says, resting his hand gently in her wild hair. “Gotta listen now.” 

“‘Kay,” she breathes, curling up against his chest once more, her tiny heart slowing to match pace with his. He sighs and wraps his arm tightly around her waist, lowering his head to rest his nose in her curls. He inhales, reveling in her soft, still-baby scent. 

“There were several pilots, just like your Daddy. All of them the brightest and the best. They were courageous and a little bit stupid. But they never backed down from a fight-simulated or otherwise,” Finn continues, mellow voice going deeper, slower, and suddenly Poe’s not on Yavin 4.

He’s on the blazing hot duracrete landing strip of the Coruscant flight academy. 

And Poe watches a younger version of himself wrapping his arms around his friends. 

Around a slender girl with dark hair caught in a braid and sparkling bright blue eyes. 

He can feel her arms wrapping tight around him. Hear her saying his name.

He can  _ see _ her.

“Jessika Pava and your Daddy had graduated together, had gained their commissions at the same time. They were two of the best pilots the academy had ever trained. They were brave and risk-takers. They were staunch supporters of the New Republic. Or at the very least, the government’s ideal.” 

A bitter taste washes over Poe’s tongue-Jessika is gone. Glittering Coruscant is gone. His young pilots are all gone- and he takes over for the moment. “The New Republic was failing, Dee,” he says, cupping her chin gently in his hand and pulling her gaze to meet his. “It was being eaten from the inside out by a cruel offshoot from the Empire. It was...It was destroying everything our parents and grandparents had fought for.” 

Her solemn blue eyes meet his. “You tried to stop it, Daddy?”

He smiles sadly. “Yeah, baby. I did. But I’m just a pilot. There wasn’t much I could do to stop the First Order in those days. So I took my X-Wing and my best friend and I joined up with General Organa and the Resistance.”

“Because you’re a hero!” she crows, brightening.

Poe sighs and strokes his thumb over her cheek. “No baby,” he says sadly. “I wasn’t a hero. I never was, really. I just happened to be really good at flying and fighting. I just-I had to do the right thing. I had to fight for someone I believed in. I’m a soldier. I follow orders. But I can’t follow orders I do not condone. Does that make sense?”

She nods. “You wanted to choose for yourself. Like Papa did, when he deserted and saved you.” 

Poe’s eyes rise to meet Finn’s. Both men stare at each other for a moment, their entire history passing between them for a moment and neither of them are graying. Neither of them are wrinkled. Neither of them are…

Heroes. 

For a moment...They’re just Poe Dameron, cocky ace-pilot with a hard-on to prove himself to his hero and Finn, the ex-Stormtrooper who defected from the First Order because he couldn’t pull the trigger on his blaster in Jakku. 

For a moment.

They are so much more than their younger selves.

And so much less than that as well.

For a moment, they’re just Poe and Finn.

Fathers.

Husbands. 

“What happened to Jessika?” Dee asks, her voice breaking both men free of their shared memories and Poe clears his throat, rolling and pulling her over his chest; they collide with Finn, who grunts and Deidra giggles, sloppily kissing them both before folding her arms and cradling her head on Poe’s chest. “Was she a good pilot, like you Daddy?”

Poe grins. “She was the  _ best _ , baby. Better than me. Better than your Uncle Snap but don’t tell him I said that, okay?” 

Deidra giggles. “Was she better than Aunt Rey too?”

Finn snorts. “No one’s better than your Aunt Rey,” he says settling down beside them, his hand rising to press lightly into Poe’s hip; Poe’s skin burns with his touch, flaring to life and he shivers, reveling in the Force touch that passes between them. Finn grins and leans forward to place a light kiss on the tip of her nose. “Even Chewie.” 

“Jess was my best friend,” Poe says, absently reaching up to smooth her hair out of her face. “She was a lot younger than me. A former slave who had won her freedom and joined the cadet academy. She climbed the ranks and soon our commanders realized she was a good pilot. Better than good really.”

“The best,” Dee breathes, eyes wide. 

“Yeah,” Poe says, his eyes drifting closed. “She was.” He sighs. “She had the prettiest laugh. It was contagious in all honesty. No matter how miserable we all were-through rationing, through the monsoon season on D’Qar, through Snap being in medical for three solid months-she faced it all with a smile and a laugh. She was always the loudest in a room, cracking jokes with anyone and everyone who would listen. And she wasn’t afraid to fight anyone who might have hurt her friends.” 

Dee sighs. “She sounds nice.”

Both men smile wryly, Finn chuckling. “She was, Dee. She was very nice. She taught me how to whistle.” 

She giggles. “You didn’t know how to  _ whistle _ Papa?!” she asks, eyes wide with disbelief. 

Finn shakes his head. “Nope. Wasn’t First Order priority, really, baby.”

“Oh.” She frowns. “What happened to her?” 

Poe’s mouth opens but his breath stops in his lungs, his words failing him. 

His entire body aches, his eyes welling with tears as the old grief washes over him. 

Overwhelms him. 

Distantly he hears Finn talking. Hears him say, “Near the end of the War she and your Daddy were flying a recon mission and they got ambushed. She didn’t survive the attack but she told your Daddy about you before she died. And your Aunt Rey helped him find you and bring you home to us.”

Dee glances from Finn to Poe. “Daddy, are you okay?” she asks. 

He doesn’t hear her voice though.

He just hears,  _ Poe, Poe I gotta tell you something when we get back to base. There’s someone you need to meet. _

“Jessika Pava was my best friend and she was your mother, Deidra,” he grits out, his words choking in his throat, tears falling to tangle in his beard. 

Her blue eyes are just like her mother’s.

Bright and so beautiful.

So blue. 

Like the blue of their Republic dress uniforms, way back in the day. 

Her face. 

“Gods, you look just like her,” he whispers, shaking hands rising to cradle his daughter’s face. “You have her eyes. Her nose. She would love you so much, baby. She  _ does _ love you so much.” 

Dee’s eyes are welling with tears now, overflowing and she’s sniffling. “Is she-is she the lady in orange?” she asks.

Finn’s eyes close and he places a soft kiss on Poe’s shoulder, letting him tell their daughter her story. Letting him do this thing that they had never really planned for. 

“Yeah, Dee. That’s Jessika. Your mother,” Poe says. “She wants to help you.”

Dee glances between them, eyes even wider now. “Help me?” she repeats, young voice shaking. “Help me do what?”

“Choose,” Finn says. “Choose the path you want to take, either the Light or the Dark.” 

The three of them are quiet, their hearts beating in time together and her soft baby scent washes over them, reminding them that she is five now.

And not a baby for very much longer. 

No matter how hard they keep her locked safely in their arms. 

**

“Poe? Can I come in?”

Rey’s voice is uncertain and Poe grits his teeth, eyes burning beneath the tinted lenses of the welding goggles he wears. 

“Kinda busy, Rey,” he mutters, bending over the torch and focusing on the rivet he’s installing on the last bits of innards the base sphere needs before he can finish his little project. “Can I talk to you later?”

She sighs and leans in the doorway of the shop. “I’ve been on Yavin 4 for six hours, Poe Dameron, and I know when I’m being avoided. Which is what you’re doing, out here, tinkering with BB-8’s shell and that damn X-Wing. You and Finn wanted me to come here and talk to Dee, to see if she’s Sensitive. But I kind of need to talk to you too, since you’re her parent,” she says, no longer uncertain. He can hear the Jedi Master in her. The fierce Jedi commander they all saw her become so very long ago.

Most people can’t ignore Rey Kenobi when she’s using that voice.

Most. 

He’s not most people though.

“I talked to Dee,” she continues on, stubborn as ever. “She’s worried about you. Scared a bit too. You’re not being very fair, to her or to Finn.” 

He sighs and snaps the torch off, sliding his glasses up so he can study the weld on the strut. She just  _ had _ to throw Finn in the mix. 

“You know me too well, Jedi,” he grumbles, not looking at her. 

“I know you’re worried. And you’re just as scared as she is,” she says, voice gentling now as she steps into the shop. “Did you tell her about Jess?”

Her eyes are sad when he finally looks at her. Her brown hair hangs loose about her shoulders, threads of silver starting to weave their way through the strands and her own wrinkles frame her eyes and mouth now. He can’t help but smile and reach out to tuck some of her hair behind her ear, much like he had in the early days of their friendship. 

“Yeah, a little bit. She’s still-she’s still hard to talk about, even after all of this time,” he says finally, hand falling limply back to his side, his entire body wracked by the old grief that he sees in Rey’s eyes. Can  _ feel  _ washing off of her in waves. 

Rey smiles and reaches up to run her fingers through his hair in her own caress, stroking the streak of silver that curves over his ear. “We all loved her very much, Poe,” she says. “And Deidra is old enough to understand what her mother meant to the Resistance and to you.” 

“But is she old enough to understand what  _ she _ could be?” Poe whispers, agonized and so desperately scared. 

Rey cups his cheek, dark eyes gentling in the soft smile he used to see on Leia’s face sometimes. Rey may not have been related to the fierce General, but there was enough of Leia in her to remind everyone she came across that she was undeniably in charge. 

And wise. 

“No one is ever old enough, Poe,” she says quietly, hand trailing over the stubble of his jaw to rest on his chest, just over his heart. “But that’s the way these things are, I think. We either embrace our natures or we run into the Darkness because that is the easier path to take.” 

He’s quiet, staring down at her and then she pats his chest and turns away. 

“Don’t go into the Darkness, Poe,” she says over her shoulder, just before stepping through the door and out into the garden. “You have never been one for doing things the easy way.” 

The door slides shut behind her, the loud metallic clang as it settles in the jamb jolting him and he sits slowly on the stool placed before his bench. His hands tremble but he doesn’t pay them any mind. 

He just thinks on Rey’s words. On the blatant challenge he’d heard in her voice. 

And the knowledge that if Jess were still with him, she’d be wringing his ear and probably kicking his ass back to the house and his family. That she’d be forcing him to apologize for being a kriffing idiot. 

He smiles and shakes his head, burying his face in his hands for a moment with a groan, before rising and following Rey from his workshop. 

The door slides closed behind him with finality but he doesn’t pay it any mind. 

He just focuses on the knowledge that doing the right thing is hard.

But it is the direct path to the Light and that is all that matters. 

“Hey babe,” he says when he slips through the front door of his home and squats behind Finn, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and pressing a light kiss to the outer shell of his ear. “Sorry I’ve been a dick.”

Finn’s eyes are soft-so full of love-when he turns in Poe’s arms to kiss him back and he laughs. “I think I’ll forgive you. This time.” 

Poe snorts and presses his forehead to Finn’s before turning to his daughter and Rey, who sit in the middle of the living room floor, facing each other with their legs crossed and their eyes closed. 

He may not be a Force user-or even a Sensitive-but he doesn’t miss the sensation of the Force moving through and around them in the quiet space. 

He doesn’t miss the bliss on his daughter’s face. 

Or the love he feels from Finn. 

This is a decision that has already been made, he realizes. 

And who is he to fight it?

“I’ll let her go,” he whispers in Finn’s ear, closing his eyes against the tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. “I’ll let her be the Jedi she was always meant to be, like I did with you when we fell in love so long ago, Finn.” 

Finn presses a kiss to the palm of his hand and pulls Poe into his lap, tucking his head beneath his chin. 

“She’ll do you proud, Poe,” he whispers and the love that fills this space…

It wraps around all of them and Deidra starts to laugh, her voice bright and gentle and so very pure. 

“I can see my mother, Daddy,” she says, her eyes closed, her hands raised, palm up between her and Rey. “She wants me to go into the light.” 

Poe’s and Rey’s eyes meet and she smiles, understanding the bittersweet agony he feels. 

And he says from the safe circle of Finn’s arms, “Then you should go, baby. And tell her hi, for me. And that I miss her.”

Deidra nods. “Okay, Daddy,” she whispers. “Thank you.”

_ You’re welcome _ , he whispers silently, his fingers tangling with Finn’s as he leans back into his husband’s chest. 

Deidra’s light blue eyes flash in his direction and for a moment he remembers a young hotshot pilot, grinning mischievously at him before clambering into her x-wing. He can hear her laughing, eyes crinkling in the corners like her daughter’s does when she’s truly happy.

And in that moment he knows that everything will be fine.

That his family will be safe.

And they will always be loved. 

_ Thank you Jess, _ he thinks and for a moment…

He knows they aren’t alone in their Yavin home.


End file.
